Working conditions

If you own a company in the Netherlands you must ensure a healthy and safe work place for all your personnel, including temporary personnel. If you outsource work, for example to a subcontractor, you must also ensure a healthy and safe work place for the subcontractor's workers. A healthy and safe work place includes:

• work place and equipment;
• physical and psychological stress;
• substances, radiation and contagion.

You are obliged to record details of the occupational hazards and corresponding countermeasures in a risk inventory and evaluation (RI&E).

Working conditions catalogue

The Dutch government's target conditions can be found in the Working Conditions Act (Arbowet), the Working Conditions Decree (Arbobesluit), the Working Conditions Regulation (Arboregeling) and the Working Conditions Policy Rules (Arbobeleidsregels). Employers and employees use a working conditions catalogue (Arbocatalogus) to agree on how they are going to achieve the government's target conditions. A working conditions catalogue can apply to one company or to an entire sector. On the (Dutch-language) website DeArbocatalogus.nl you will find practical suggestions and instruments for developing an occupational health and safety catalogue.

Sector pamphlets on occupational hazards

The SZW Inspectorate (Inspectie SZW) publishes pamphlets on the main occupational hazards in specific sectors. You can read what requirements apply to you as an employer in your sector and what precisely the SZW Inspectorate looks for during an inspection.